The present invention relates to organization and navigation of digital information objects of a digital information space.
In a data space containing hypertext such as, for example, the World Wide Web (WWW), authors link to one another""s documents or pages. A user navigates through the digital information space by either following these author-defined links, searching for specific terms (as supported by search engines), or through their own xe2x80x9cbookmarksxe2x80x9d or pointers to specific pages.
Currently, upon locating a document the user may create a bookmark for the document. The user may then edit a description of the document (presumably, why the document is interesting) in the properties of the bookmark.
Several disadvantages are associated with the use of bookmarks for documents. For instance, the user may completely forget the existence of a relevant bookmark. Also, a user may bookmark the same document twice because the user forgot the first visit to the document. Further, some bookmarks properly belong in several categories, but to do this, the user must add the bookmarks separately to each category. If the bookmark is changed later, the user has to update each bookmark separately. Frequently, when reviewing the bookmarks, a user is at a loss as to why a particular document was marked. Finally, the collection of bookmarks can rapidly grow to an unmanageable number rendering the bookmarks useless.
In general, the user sees the digital information space as a loosely connected network in which authors link to their own documents, or the documents of other authors. What is needed is a user-driven model of organization and navigation that more closely maps to the operation of human long-term memory.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of generating a navigational model, referred to herein as an xe2x80x9coverlayxe2x80x9d, for linking together information objects on an existing information space.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of generating an overlay which allows a user to create a structure of information nodes, concept nodes, and links between nodes.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of generating an overlay for linking together digital information objects from a user""s perspective.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method of generating an overlay for associating digital information objects using concept nodes to enrich navigation through a digital information space.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a method of generating an overlay which can be shared with other users, or combined with other overlays to create richer networks of associations.
In carrying out the above objects and other objects, the present invention provides a method of linking together digital information objects of a digital information space. The method includes creating an overlay including at least one concept node. Each concept node expresses one concept. A digital information object is accessed in the digital information space. A check is made to determine if the digital information object includes at least one concept in common with concepts expressed in the concept nodes. If the digital information object and the overlay include at least one common concept, the digital information object is automatically and dynamically linked to each concept node expressing common concepts. A user may create an information node in the overlay representing the digital information object.
In an embodiment of the present invention, a second digital information object is accessed. A check is made to determine if the second digital information object includes at least one concept in common with concepts expressed in the concept nodes. The first information object and the second information object are automatically and dynamically linked if the information node representing the first digital information object is linked to at least one concept node expressing a concept included in the second digital information object. This allows the user accessing the second information object to directly access the first information object.
In another embodiment, the digital information space is at least one of a set comprising one or more hypertext environments, one or more desktop environments, and one or more electronic mail environments. In a refinement, digital information objects are documents addressable using the Universal Resource Location (URL) specification.
In still another embodiment, the concept expressed by each concept node is described by at least one keyword. In a refinement, determining if the digital information object includes at least one concept in common with concepts expressed in concept nodes includes searching the digital information object for an occurrence of any of the keywords describing each of the concepts. In another refinement, each keyword may be a phrase and each phrase may include Boolean logical modifiers.
In yet another embodiment, the method includes allowing a user to manually establish a link between a first concept node and a second concept node, allowing the user to manually establish a link between a selected concept node and a selected information node, and allowing the user to manually establish a link between a first information node and a second information node.
In a further embodiment, the method includes allowing a user to annotate the accessed digital information object by storing the annotation in the representative information node.
A method is also provided that allows a user to organize and navigate a digital information space made up of a plurality of addressable objects. In this method, an overlay is created. Each overlay includes at least one concept with each concept described by a at least one keyword. An addressable object is accessed. The addressable object is scanned for the occurrence of each keyword. For each keyword found in the search, each concept described by the keyword is linked with the accessed addressable object. The user is permitted to add a reference to the accessed addressable object to the overlay. If the user adds the reference, the object may be linked with each concept described by the found keyword. Also, for each keyword found in the search, the concept described by the keyword is associated with the address of each added addressable object linked to any concept defined by the keyword. For each additional addressable object accessed, the object is scanned for keywords, concepts are linked for each keyword found, the user is permitted to add a reference to the object, and concepts described by found keywords are associated with the object. This allows addressable objects to be organized according to linking concepts. This also allows addressable objects to be navigated by selecting one of the added addressable objects while in the accessed addressable object, the accessed addressable object and the added addressable object having a common concept.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the user is permitted to add and delete links between any added reference to an addressable object and any concept.
In another embodiment, each addressable object added to the overlay is represented by an information node and each concept in the overlay is represented by a concept node.
In still another embodiment, a second overlay is created. Information from the first overlay may be merged into the second overlay.
In yet another embodiment, the method allows the user to order addressable objects added to the overlay to create an associative trail. The associative trail assists in navigating through the added addressable objects.
In a further embodiment, a search engine can search digital information objects. The method includes submitting the overlay to the search engine. The search engine assembles a search pattern based on concepts and keywords contained in the overlay. Information nodes already present in the overlay may be used to filter search results.
The advantages accruing to the present invention are numerous. The overlay consists of a linked network of concept and information objects that reflect the user""s interest in a given area. The overlay created by a first user can be shared with a second user to allow the second user to learn or get another opinion about an area by examining a network generated by the first user. The overlay further automatically reminds a user when a new object is encountered as to how the new object relates to the other information already encountered, and allows easy access to that information.
These and other features, aspects, and embodiments of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.